National Weather Service Employees Organization

(December 21, 2011) The National Weather Service plans to give the private sector complete control of weather warnings applications for wireless devices. An emerging tech team was deeply involved in this issue before NWS pulled it from the team under loud protest.

A message delivered today by Laura Furgione, Deputy Director of the National Weather Service, overruled the NWS’s emerging technology team, stating that the NWS is declaring a hold on use of NWS resources to develop warning applications. “The NWSEO worked very hard five years ago to keep Congress from privatizing the NWS, now our own management has done it for them,” NWSEO President Dan Sobien stated.

Many available commercial weather applications use NWS warnings and products. While some of the commercial apps credit NWS as the source of the information, not all of them do. Another cause for concern is that there is no regulation, certification, or policing of the information used on apps or widgets. So, it’s possible for an app to claim use of NWS data without actually having access to it.

“NWS management is risking the lives of the American public who pay their salaries and risking the good name of the NWS by placing the warning dissemination program of the United States of America in the hands of some 13 year old kid who created an app,” warned Sobien. “What could be more mission critical than the dissemination of our warnings?”

“Instead of looking to the future and utilizing the talents of our young workforce to find the newest methods to better disseminate our warnings, the NWS has chosen to turn its back on anything new. It seems they are okay with hearing about disaster victims who say they never got the warning” said Sobien.

Employees were given another option; they were instructed that if they wish to develop weather “apps” on their own time, they should contact the DOC Ethics Officer.